Clinicians' utilization of child mental health telephone consultation in primary care: findings from Massachusetts.
OBJECTIVE: The authors examined utilization of the Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Access Project, a mental health telephone consultation service for primary care, hypothesizing that greater use would be related to severe psychiatric diagnoses and polypharmacy. METHODS: The authors examined the association between utilization, defined as the mean number of contacts per patient during the 180 days following the initial contact (July 2008-June 2009), and characteristics of the initial contact, including consultation question, the child's primary mental health problem, psychotropic medication regimen, insurance status, and time of year. RESULTS: Utilization (N=4,436 initial contacts, mean=3.83 contacts) was associated with initial contacts about medication management, polypharmacy, public and private health insurance, and time of year. The child's primary mental health problem did not predict utilization. CONCLUSIONS: Telephone consultation services address treatment with psychotropic medications, particularly polypharmacy. Joint public-private funding should be considered for such public programs that serve privately insured children.
Duke Scholars
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Related Subject Headings
- Young Adult
- Time Factors
- Retrospective Studies
- Referral and Consultation
- Psychotropic Drugs
- Psychiatry
- Primary Health Care
- Polypharmacy
- Pediatrics
- Mental Health Services
Citation
Published In
DOI
EISSN
Publication Date
Volume
Issue
Start / End Page
Location
Related Subject Headings
- Young Adult
- Time Factors
- Retrospective Studies
- Referral and Consultation
- Psychotropic Drugs
- Psychiatry
- Primary Health Care
- Polypharmacy
- Pediatrics
- Mental Health Services